Hitoshi Nasu

Three Proposals for Rewarding Novel Health Technologies Benefiting People Living in Poverty. A Comparative Analysis of Prize Funds, Health Impact Funds and a Cost-Effectiveness/Competitive Tender Treaty

This paper sets out to analyse three different academic proposals for addressing the needs of the poor in relation to new, rather than ‘essential’ medicines. It focuses particularly on (1) research and development (R&D) prize funds, (2) a health impact fund (HIF) system and (3) a multilateral treaty on health technology cost-effectiveness evaluation and competitive tender. It compares the extent to which each responds to the ‘market fundamentalist’ philosophy (that we maintain forms a loose theoretical background for the patent-driven approach to pharmaceutical R&D) and begins to analyse their respective strengths and weaknesses.

Public law challenges to the regulation of pharmaceutical patents in the US bilateral free trade agreements

The international trade law regime has been flourishing with the institutionalisation and judicialisation under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (‘WTO’). While some people applaud the development towards constitutionalisation, the inter-governmental nature of the legal regime, especially at the law making phase, has remained at the penumbra. Illustrative is the barrier against access to essential medicines caused by pharmaceutical patent protection under the WTO regime. Pressures have been mounting to alleviate the problem in multinational forums, and yet the initiative by the United States to set a higher level of intellectual property protection over pharmaceutical products through bilateral trade agreements has impeded change.

Nanotechnology and Challenges to International Humanitarian Law: A Preliminary Legal Assessment

The introduction of nanotechnology into our civil life and warfare is expected to influence the application and interpretation of the existing rules of international humanitarian law. This article examines the challenges posed to international humanitarian law by the widespread use of nanotechnology in light of four basic rules of international humanitarian law: (1) the obligation to ensure the legality of weapons; (2) distinction; (3) proportionality; and (4) precaution. It concludes by identifying three areas of concern, which arise from widespread use of nanotechnology, for the application of international humanitarian law.

Operationalizing the Responsibility to Protect in the Context of Civilian Protection by UN Peacekeepers

This article examines how operationalizing the ‘responsibility to protect’ (R2P) concept may assist in defining the scope of civilian protection mandates for peacekeepers, which are ambiguously restricted by three caveats – ‘imminent threat of physical violence’, ‘area of deployment’ and ‘capabilities’. It is argued that by restrictively interpreting civilian protection mandates in the light of R2P the limited resources of peacekeeping troops would be more effectively utilized to protect civilians from mass atrocity crimes. Greater investment would be required to build capacity among the more creative and specially trained units to protect civilians from physical violence, in addition to greater coordination between the military and those specially trained units.

Re-Evaluating the Role of International Law in Territorial and Maritime Disputes in East Asia

Recently increased tensions across East Asia over territorial and maritime disputes show glimpses of brinkmanship. However, the past experiences of Western colonization and Japan’s imperialism within the region add complexity to those disputes challenging our understanding of legal debates surrounding territorial and maritime disputes. This article examines the extent to which the relevant rules of international law are capable of providing ‘‘justice’’ by accommodating the unique historical contexts in the region in settling highly politically sensitive territorial and maritime claims. It finds that the existing rules of international law are more than capable of accommodating the peculiar historical contexts of East Asia in the resolution of territorial and maritime disputes, whilst acknowledging that certain ambiguities in the law are contributing to some of the current tensions that have arisen over these disputes.

Managing Future Disasters: Japan's Energy Security and Nanotechnology Regulation

The disasters in Fukushima following 11 March 2011 have reminded us of the fragility of technological safety measures and the danger of lax implementation of safety regulations. The loss of confidence in the reliability of nuclear energy has quickly spread around the world, raising concerns about energy security. The rapid development of nanotechnology and its applications in a wide range of products such as solar cells, are expected to help alleviate these global energy security concerns. However, inadequate regulation of the application of this new technology to industries, businesses and households may pose equally significant security threats to human health, the environment and natural resources. This chapter addresses challenges to the regulation of nanotechnology, drawing on the experience and impacts of the failure of nuclear safety regulation in Japan to prevent the Fukushima nuclear disaster. It will be argued that Japan should be more pre-emptive in revisiting the regulatory framework for accident management from a security perspective, while at the same time facilitating scientists’ free experimentation using engineered nanomaterials as catalysts for scientific breakthroughs in alternative energy sources.

Nanotechnology and the Law of Armed Conflict

Nanotechnology is a rapidly evolving field of science cutting across many disciplines including engineering, quantum physics, optics, chemistry and biology, and typically involves manipulation of matter on the atomic and molecular level in the size range of 1nm – 100nm (1nm = 10-9m) in one or more external dimensions. It enables, for example, the increased and tailored rate of energy release, the manipulation of optical properties, increased electrical conductivity, and improved hardness and strength with reduced weight, which can find useful applications for advanced military equipment and weaponry. The introduction of nanotechnology into weaponry is also expected to influence the application and interpretation of the law of armed conflict, raising the question as to whether the existing rules are sufficiently clear and adequate in light of the technology’s specific characteristics, as well as with regard to the foreseeable humanitarian impact it may have. This chapter revisits the rationale underlying the law of armed conflict and examines to what extent the problems arising from the use of nanotechnology-enhanced or enabled weapons could adequately be addressed within the current legal framework governing weaponry. To that end, this chapter focuses on the three enhanced capabilities that nanotechnology introduces to weaponry: (1) penetration; (2) accuracy and manipulation in the delivery of focused force application; and (3) camouflaging.

The Responsibility to React? Lessons from the Security Council's Response to the Southern Lebanon Crisis of 2006

The Security Councils failure to react when Israel initiated its third large-scale military incursion into southern Lebanon in July 2006 stands in contrast to the overall reform agenda towards a responsive and accountable Security Council. While the idea of ‘responsibility to protect’ increasingly gains recognition, the delay in reacting to this event demonstrated a setback contrary to legitimate expectations expressed by member states. This article uncovers the extent to which the international community has come to recognize the legal significance of the Security Councils responsibility under the UN Charter, what legal implications the failure of reaction could entail, and what needs to be reformed to rectify the ‘responsibility deficit disorder’ of the Security Council. It is argued that the Security Councils responsibility under Art. 24(1) carries growing legal significance, which requires reform of the ‘attitude’ and ‘culture’ of the Security Council towards conflict management by mainstreaming peacekeeping operations in its security policy.

Cyber Security in the Asia Pacific

The development and implementation of domestic cyber security strategies has become a top priority for many Asia-Pacific nations. Cyber security threats present a particularly complex challenge for the Asia-Pacific region due to pre-existing geopolitical rivalries, as well as the political, economic, and socio-cultural diversity that characterises this region. This chapter reviews cyber security policy initiatives by regional institutions in the Asia-Pacific with a view to considering how regional cyber security efforts are hampered by interaction with the traditional security challenges that confront many states in the region. It reveals that while regional institutions, particularly ASEAN and APEC, have made concerted efforts to galvanize regional states into collective action against malicious cyber activities, the strategic and tactical advantages gained from the exploitation of cyberspace amplifies existing geopolitical tensions in the Asia-Pacific.

The UN Security Council's Responsibility and the 'Responsibility to Protect'

Despite the centrality of the Security Council’s role in the responsibility to protect debate, little attention has been drawn so far to the relationship between the Security Council’s primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security and its role in implementing the responsibility to protect on behalf of the international community. This article critically examines the Security Council’s responsibility, as envisaged in the responsibility to protect concept, and the way this has influenced the conception of the Security Council’s responsibility among Council members.